Automatic electric signaling  apparatus



(No Model.)

H. J. BROWER & F. B. WOOD. AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC SIGNALINGAPPARATUS.

.No. 252,353, Patented Jan."1'7,18.82.

I f A t I? a, 02 I m UNITED STATES- ATENT mes,

RENRY J. BRowER, or BROOKLY AND FRANK R, WOOD, or NEW YORK, N; Y., ASSIGNORS F ()NE-FQURTHTO BENJAMIN E.. VALENTINE, or

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC SIGNALING APPARATUS] SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 252,353, dated January 17, 1882.

' Application filed April 27, 1.981. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern l Be it known that we, HENRY J.BROWER, of

the city of Brooklyn, New York, and FRANK B. W001), of the city of New York, N. Y., have invented a new and useful System of Automatic Electric Signaling; and we do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawing annexed to and forming part of the same, contains a full, clear, and

I0 exactldescription of our said'invention, sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to which it pertains to construct and operate the-same.

'Our invention has particular reference to the systems of electrical signaling nowin use by the various district-telegraph'companies of ,our large cities and the systems of firealarm telegraphs, though the same may be applied and found useful in many other cases.

In the systems above mentioned, as is wellknown, asignal is given by causing the revo lution, at any given station or point upon the line'of electricalcommunication, of a notched wheel or its equivalent, which breaks or opens and closes the electrical circuit. The signal is received on what is known as a register in the main or central office of the line, and by an impression upon a moving ribbon of paper or the ringing of a hell by a magnet, or both, the signal is announced, showing by the numher of strokes on thebell, or bythe impression upon the paper, the peculiar numberjor designation of the station whence the signal'is sent and the character of the signal. 7 It frequently happens that from divers 3 5 causes-e. g., atmospheric influences, accidents ,nal, other means, can be at once adopted for conveying the information desired; while on theotherhand, if deceived by the fancied security afl'orded by a defectiveoonnectiou, valuable time would be lost before the sender of O the signal asceitaincd, by a failure of his sig- 5 nal to elicit any action on the part of the central office, that it had been prevented from reaching them. This feature of assuring the signaler of the proper reception of his signal has been deemed so important thatin some of the central offices a person has been stationed to signal back, by reversing the current, &c., the announcement-thatthemessageisreceived.

The first object of our invention is to provide a means by which, when a signal is sent from a signal-box to the central station a response-signal will be automatically returned to the precise signal box from which the mess ge originated, and to no other, thus assuring the sender of the due receipt of his signal at the proper office.

In the drawing, A represents a signal-box placed upon the main circuit ata distance from the central office.

At Z is shown register mechanism located at the central officer Wis the main battery, Y the local battery; and R is the relay to close local circuit and operate the register through M M is a coil and magnet, which, by its armature L, operates a lever whose end Q stops the train of the register when the local circuit is broken and releases the train when the 10- cal circuit is closed, allowing one complete revolution of the wheel (and allthe other wheels on the shaft or axle J) whenever the end Q is raised out of the notch on the wheel. M may be the same magnet which is used in the ordinary register for working the recording-pen. The main circuit is from the signal-box A, along the line E through the other signal-boxes on the line, (shown at A A &c.,) through the main battery W, into the register, through the contact-spriu g G, out of the register, through the contact-spring Gfiover the line E through the relay R, and back to the signal-box over the line E, or viceversa. The signal-box Ais of any suitable construction, such as is in common use, B being the 5 signal-wheel, and O the circuit-breaker, which, by means of the notches a a or their equivalent, breaks the circuit, the system in the 7 present case being supposed to be what is known as the closed circuit. So long as the circuit-breaker O rests on the wheel B the signal-box is in circuit, D being the wire which makes the connection between the sections of the main line E E. The circuit in the ordinary movements of the signal-box is along E, over the wire Dand breaker through the wheel B, and back through the line E or vice ently of the ordinary register, or may be added to suchregister.

T represents a barrel contazning a coiled spring for actuating, in the ordinary manner,

a train of wheels by the cog-wheel K, attached weight, a. By means of the weight a the escapement can be adjusted so as to vary and regulate the speed of revolution of the shaft J and the wheels which revolve-with it. The adjustment should be so made that the wheels 'on J shall revolve at the same rate of speed and occupy the same time in a revolution, as

a the signal-wheel B in the box A.

F F S together are a series of wheels, or a cylinder with different diameters upon the shaft J, which, as before stated, revolve at the same rate of speed as the signal-wheel B, and which are always in the main circuit by the scraping connection formed by the contact-spring G upon the surface F The circuit at the register is completed by the contact-sprin g G, which bears on the surface of F, keeping the circuit closed at all times, except when the notches ff break the circuit momentarily by passing under the end of the contact-sprin g G. These notches are placed on that quarter of the wheel F which is the last to pass, during its revolution, under the contact-spring G, so that the main circuit will be broken just before the completion of the revolution of the register-wheel F.

Upon the signal-wheel B in the box A, at that portion of its surface which is in contact with the spring 0 during the last quarter of its revolution, the surface is cut away or insulated, as shown at b b, so that during the last quarter of the revolution of B the contactspring 0. opens the circuit after the signal is sent. At one side of the same portion of the v signal-wheel B is attached a section of a wheel,

S, preferably joining the segment of a circle of larger diameter than the wheel B. The object of S is to form a circuit or contact for the wheel B with a second contact-spring or circuit-breakenO during that period oftime when the contact-spring G is thrown out of circuit at b b. The effect of the lastquarter of revo- ,75 lution of said wheel B is to throw the line D? out of circuit as soon as the signal has been sent over it, and to throw the magnet M (which operates the bell N by means of the well-known armature mechanism) into circuit through the wire D this circuit lasting until the wheel B has completed its revolution to the point t of the segment S, at which point the contactspring (3 leaves the segment S, and the contact-spring (3 again comes in contact with the surface of the signal-wheel B at I), thus restoring the circuit through the line D and cutting out the temporary circuit through D S is a segment, similar to S, connected with the cylinder or wheel F at the side of F which, during the last quarterof revolution of the shaft Jand wheel F, puts in circuit the line E as hereinafter described.

It is obvious that as the wheel F in the register revolves at the same speed as the wheel B in the signal-box, the segment of Fcontaining the notches ff, which break the circuit, will be presented to the scraper or circuit-breaker G at the same time that the section S in the signal-box is presented to the circuit-breaker O and at'the same time that O is thrown out of connection, and G with its magnet and bell, thrown in circuit. As soon, therefore, as the signal has been given by'the revolving signal-wheel B through G,and received on the register by the ordinaryand well-known means,

a new circuit will be formed by the continuing revolution of the wheel B through S, 0 D and the magnet M, and the bell N will be sounded once at the moment of forming the new circuit by the contact of O at the point t, and again as each of the notches ff on the wheel F breaks and closes the circuit by means of G. This is done automatically, and after this return signal is given the completion of '1 r 5 the revolution of the wheels B and F restores the original circuit ready for further direct signals.

The next part of our invention relates to a method of cutting out the relay-magnet B.

It is a fact well known to those familiar with electrical telegraphy that if there are two or more of the ordinary magnets withtheir armatures upon the same line and in circuit, in order to have all of them operate under a given electrical current the power or resistance of the respective magnets must be similar. Thus, if the magnet in the relay B is of one hundred ohms, the magnet at the bell N must be also of about one hundred ohmsyotherwise only 1 0 one of them-via, the stronger-would operate. when in circuit. The magnet usually used and required at the register-relay R is of comparativelylarge resistance,or high numberof ohms.

If a magnet of like number of ohms was placed at M, theexpense would be unnecessarily great, for our invention contemplates a magnet and bell at every signal-box for return signals. To secure the ringing ofthe bell N only asmall magnet of a few ohms would be necessary were it not for the more powerful magnet in the relay R, which has to be equalized. This part of our invention therefore consists of means by which the magnet of the relay R is cutout of the circuit (and this may be done automati' cally) while the return signal is given, thus avoiding the effect of its powerful magnet, and allowing a small magnet, M, of fewer ohms resistance, to ring the bell N.

In the drawing, Eis the main line, on which the relay is interposed between the register, with its wheel F, and the signal-box, with its wheel B. The course of the current, under the ordinary condition of affairs is from the signalbox at X, along the wireE, through the standard V, and thence through the relay R to theregister by the line E. As the electric current always takes the shortest course, however, between two points connected, if a direct connection is made between the register and the standard V the current will pass through the latter wire, andthe relay will be cut out or not brought into play, and therefore the effect of its powerful magnet will be avoided.

E? is awire, one end of which is connected with the standard V and the other end is connected with a circuit breaker ,or s'craper G S is a piece of metal similar to S upon the signal -whee1 B, but placed upon the last quarter of revolution of the register-wheel F. During the period of time while the signal from B is being received on the register the circuit-breaker G is not in contact with the wheel F, but during the last quarter of the latters revolution, and after the signal from- B is received and announced the section S comes in contact with the end of the circuitbreaker G thereby putting the wire E in circuit, by which the current will flow directly to the signal-wheel B through the point V,

the completion of the revolution of the wheel F the circuit-breaker G is automatically thrown out of circuit by passing from the end of the section 8. By this means an answering return signal, by the ringing of a hell, can be automatically given upon the receipt of the direct signal at the station to which it is sent, and the expense. of the apparatus required ac -omplish this is but small.

It is obvious that with an open-circuit systern the same invention may be utilized by making changes in the details of the parts.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent isi The combination of the revolving wheel and contact-surfaces F and F a register for recording electric signals, an electric circuit, of which the signal-box A, for automatically breaking the circuit, forms a part, and with the simultaneously-revolving wheel and contact-surfaces B and S, located in said signalboir, and mechanism for switching the circuit through the magnet M, and with the contactsprings and circuit-breakers, forming part of the above-named electric circuit, substantially as described, for the purpose of automatically announcing a return signal.

2. The combination, with a revolving contact-surface, F, forsendi-ng a return signal, of the electric circuit of which the signal-box A forms a part, the-relay-magnet-R, revolving contact-segment S and intervening connec- HENRY J. BROWER. FRANK B. WOOD.

Witnesses:

JOHN BUGKLER,

F. W. HANAFORD. 

